Blindspot!
From Issue: 734 [Read full issue]
Terrorism
Nothing excuses the killing of innocent people. The devastation and anguish that such violence causes is often beyond description. Ask the families who lost loved ones in 9/11 or 7/7 or the terrorist attacks in Madrid and Boston. Their agony is mirrored a world away by families who have seen relatives torn apart by air strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Gaza or by suicide attacks in Iraq and Indonesia. The cultures and languages may be different but the emotional and psychological impact is very similar. Islam condemns the killing of all innocent people no matter if the killings were committed by an individual or a group or by a state. All of these crimes must be condemned.
To end any cycle of violence its root causes must be properly examined. Although Muslims die in greater numbers from terrorist acts than any other group, it is often their religion that is held up as the cause. But according to the University of Chicago’s Dr. Robert Pape, the world’s foremost expert on suicide terrorism, “The root cause of suicide terrorism is foreign occupation” and “over 95% of all suicide attacks are in response to foreign occupation.”
What is the way forward? Are we locked in a permanent cycle of war, terrorism and death? Is the suicide rate of 6500 American soldiers a year an inevitable by-product in this global blood feud? Fortunately, public opinion in the U.S. seems to be slowly changing. A Zogby poll in 2010 “found that 27% of Americans now believe that the `most important factor’ motivating terrorists to attack the United States is that they `resent Western power and influence,’” while 33% still believe the terrorists want Islam to dominate the world. For the 33% it may be helpful to note that, according to CPOST, groups like Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah are not working and conspiring with one another like a fascist monolith – “what stands out is that each is driven by essentially nationalist goals to compel target democracies to withdraw military forces from their particular homeland.”
Compiled From:
"Islam and Terrorism" - IslamACloserLook.com